Factors Contributing to the Glass-Forming Ability of a Simulated Molecular Liquid

UR Pedersen and P Harrowell, JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY B, 115, 14205-14209 (2011).

DOI: 10.1021/jp205013w

The time scales of crystallization of two model liquids, an atomic liquid and a molecular liquid of bent trimers originally introduced as a model of the glass the former o-terphenyl, are determined using molecular dynamics simulations. The molecular livid is found to have a minimum crystallization time, on supercooling, that is 10(4) times larger than that of the atomic liquid. We present evidence that this enhanced glass-forming ability is due, in equal parts, to the slower dynamics and the larger crystal-liquid interfacial free energy in the molecular liquid.

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